Vius could see it in slow motion in his mind's eye. His hand inching forward towards his opponent's chest, about to land a painful open-palm attack. The man turns his head and opens his mouth, perhaps in a preemptive scream of agony or defeat. Then, a burst of sound. Vius had never before felt physically tangible sound. Now he saw it, in his mind's eye, as it ripped up sand and sent it forward. It expanded like a bubble around the man, nearly visible lines of sonic force moving outwards. Even in this slow-motion memory, the sound moved quickly and Vius had no time to react, despite his elven reflexes. He flew backwards, lifted into the air for a moment and then skidded a few paces more. His heels dragging through the sand eventually slowed him and he fell backwards.

It was then that the whole event played over in his head. It was Vius' elven mind frantically searching for the cause of what had happened. As the elf quickly jumped to his feet, wary of spear thrusts or flying javelins, he had already figured out what had happened. As incredible as it seemed, the sound had come from the man. Such power! This was no magic he had seen before, if it was magic at all. Vius' eyes widened as he saw the implications. Sound vibrated through stone walls, sound could carry far and shatter glass. As a weapon, sound was incredibly deadly. Was this stranger simply being merciful by letting Vius live this long? He took a deep breath and prepared himself. He might not make it out of this fight alive, but he would certainly not give in because of a show of force, no matter how impressive. He had faced worse, he reminded himself. Of course, there was also a second, less optimistic voice inside of him that reminded him that this sort of thinking, a hodge-podge of overconfidence, stubbornness and recklessness had gotten him killed.

In only part of a second, all of these thoughts flew through the elf's head. Normally, this would have overloaded him but he was getting better at focusing his mind and using each separate strand of thought to accomplish separate tasks. Now, he set about casting another spell. It started in the pit of his stomach, a cold tremor that spread through his body until the argent glow of his brightsteel sword was softly reflected in his whole body. This aura did not make him invincible, but it would take some of the brunt from parrying against that heavy spear and, if the man did that sonic boom trick, the aura might let Vius keep his footing. So all the elf had to do now was avoid being skewered.

Vius wanted to charge again, as he felt that he could fight the man up close, where the length of those spears would be more cumbersome or at a range, where at least he could have some time to avoid a flying javelin. Anywhere but this middle distance, where the advantage was all to the stranger. However, as he stepped forward, Vius realized he was still a bit shaken from that tremendous yell. His left hand quickly reached into a pocket on the inside of his robe and found a shuriken, which he drew and tossed in a smooth motion. It wasn't aimed very well but Vius just needed a moment more to regain his bearings.

"Wow! And here I thought I'd be wasting my time fighting a bonehead like you," Vius shouted, trying to keep an uneasy quaver out of his voice. The effect of a solid wave of sound passing through a person stuck with them, there was no arguing with that.

-------------------------------Holy Aura used, 0x leftHoly Aura effects, 4/4 posts(Forgot to put a timer for the Wings on that last post!)Wings of Light effects, 1/3 posts left

_________________"What torment, to have your thinking and your fantasy tied down by another person!" - Alexander Alekhine Vius Ottum

The scream had worked as well as Tiam had expected, and his judgement of the elf's weight had not been off. The would-be guard slid across the ground and fallen onto his skinny arse. That probably hurt more than anything else, due to the lack of padding the skinny creature probably lacked in that department. The bandit could not count the number of times that he had taken merchant guards - even those forewarned of the crew's powers - with his gift. Sound was indeed a powerful weapon, especially when one could bring the power to bear with a simple thrust of the lungs. It was faster than a sword or an arrow, so long as that object could be seen coming.

The elf appeared to see a number of implications that Tiam had seen as well. He knew enough from the mages to know that sound was an effective weapon against armoured opponents because it transfered force so well. Sound was a fearsome weapon to be certain, and was effective against all sorts especially since it could effect a wide range. He chuckled inwardly at the look on the elf's face. He looked as if he had just been punched in the nose by the girl that he had bedded only two minutes before. That had happened to Tiam on an occasion, and he still didn't know what he had done to earn it.

The elf regained himself, mostly, and even made a passable attempt at a covering attack to recover his wits as Tiam turned and began to charge. The elf did not execute the attack very well though. The worst part was that the elf was standing still and so had no means to cover the attack. In fact, that was something that Tiam was noting about his opponent - he didn't move about nearly enough in battle and was liable to die for it.

Tiam didn't have that issue. In fact, he made it a point to always be moving. If he was on the attack he moved. If he was on the defense he moved. If he had just had his bell rung and needed a moment, he moved. This elf simply stood around sprouting wings and making himself glow - as he had just before the attack. That had made him flash back to the glowing figure on the boat for a moment, but he had already dismissed this figure from that label. He was too weak in power and did not possess the hallmark black skin and silver hair. If Tiam were fighting that man he would already be dead.

The shuriken nipped at Tiam but he was hardly phased. They worked well enough against targets lacking armour and preferring the agile route, but without proper aim they were not much good against one wearing steel or leather such as Tiam. The shuriken took him in the chest but did not do much. A few inches higher and he would have lost his fool life, but Tiam had simply barreled through the attack. True, it did cost him a small hole in his chest, one that would likely pain him later, but that was too little to care about right now. He simply shrugged it off and brushed the wounding projectile away as he brushed away the fool elf's words. He wouldn't do that again though, there was too much risk in it. He simply knew that he had to capitalize on this element of surprise while he had it.

He charged on, bringing his spear to bear as before, bracing it against his arm and thrusting it at the elf's midsection when he got close. Only, unlike before, Tiam simply kept going. If he didn't skewer his opponent, and the elf didn't get out of the way in time, Tiam would simply run over his lighter opponent and knock him to the ground. After that, Vius would be dead, for all his honour and other nonsense. Tiam hadn't even told Vius his name yet, and he had no intent to do so any time soon.

This human was a mover and shaker. Charging back and forth, keeping his opponent on his toes. It certainly seemed that he controlled the flow of battle but Vius didn't like that. Of course, the elf could run circles around the man if he chose to expend his energy that way. His magic would enhance his already considerable speed and, while his footing wasn't as sure as it should be, he could manage himself well enough on the sand to use hit-and-run tactics. That just wasn't his style, though. The majority of Vius' instructors in the art of combat were dwarves, orcs and battle-hardened humans; mercenaries, mostly, though some were deposed knights or dishonored samurai. The thread they shared was endurance: Vius, despite his race, had lived through a life of slavery and rough work, so he shared that mindset, too. Outlast an opponent, let them tire themselves out, use up all their energy attempting to affect you and when the time was right, you hit them as hard as you could. Patience and perseverance. Or just stubbornness and a higher pain threshold. Either way, that was how Vius liked to fight. So, as the man charged him, Vius didn't bother moving. He did put his left hand to the dark blue amulet he wore around his neck for a brief moment.

To his opponent, it might look like Vius had put his hand to his heart, in shock or fear. However, the raw energy that flowed into Vius' body almost immediately let him know that although Akmun had disappeared, his gift was still fully effective. Yet, even as the jewel took effect, Vius could feel his silver wings fade away. That little bit of speed had helped as much as it could, it seemed. The elf's muscles tightened as he prepared for the man's latest charge. He easily sidestepped the spear and prepared to counter attack but the man just kept going. Vius moved to meet the man's onslaught with his left shoulder and, despite his augmented strength, Vius was knocked backwards as the violent human's wild attack seemed to pay off. Vius was knocked backwards but he managed to roll backwards with the force of the blow.

On his feet again, the elf's left hand glowed with power, ready to attack with a burst of magic. His right hand tightened it's grip on his brightsteel sword, as if it were a separate entity, fighting the reins of Vius' will. Offensive actions were always hard for Vius to take if only because he had so many options. His opponent had plowed through him but Vius imagined the man had intended on either stabbing him or at least taking his feet out from under him. Vius had fallen but he had rolled backwards and regained his footing, so hopefully that threw the man's strategy off a little. As Vius was now off to the man's side, he did the easiest thing and lunged forward, slashing his silvery sword at the man's side. He briefly considered attacking the man's legs, perhaps hampering his movement, but then, if left immobile, the man might attempt that trick with the sound again. Vius actually dreaded having to deal with another attack like that. All he could do now was keep fighting with a brave face on and hope that the man held a little fear for the possibility of what Vius could do.

Tiam grunted as the impact with the elf sent pain lancing through the small puncture in his chest - more pain than that little wound had a right to cause. Then again, the elf was also much stronger than he had any right to be, and nearly stopped Tiam's bullrush dead with a shoulder. The question that popped into his mind for a moment was: 'How?'. How in the world could a flimsy fairy of an elf nearly stop a man who easily had twenty pounds on him dead in his tracks? True, the elf was big for his race but at their core all elves are weaklings. Especially those who spent their days in front of books instead of going out into the sun and actually doing something productive like keeping the flow of respectable people coming down Tiam's road.

Regardless of what [i]almost[/i] happened, the elf did go down, but he rolled and recovered. The bandit took two steps more and then turned to meet the elf, ready to scream at him if the need arose. As he turned he readied a thrust, but he quickly abandoned that when he saw the glowing piece of steel in the elf's hand moving for the strike. Tiam reacted on instinct, bringing his spear around and raising his javelin in front of it. The timbers of the Storm's Mercy were stout things with more blood and salt in them than any other ship on the sea. Tiam had his share of blood in the timbers too, though he doubted that these particular pieces were relatives of his.

The sword was stopped by the wooden blockade as Tiam had expected. What he had not expected was to lose the tip of one of his javelins from the block. The elf's sword cut through the shaft of the javelin and was stopped when it nicked the staff of the heavier, thicker spear. The elf kept boggling Tiam's mind - he simply couldn't understand how this elf had become so strong, unless he was always that strong and was holding back or it was an after effect of those wings.

Phaw, no time for that, have to keep pushing. Tiam dropped the javelin without a second thought and used his spear to try to throw the elf's sword away. A futile effort, the sword hadn't sunk deep enough into the shaft to make it catch, but it would still leave him open to attack.

Instead of a thrust this time, Tiam lowered his profile and swept the spear at his opponent's knees to try to take them out. The move was much more effective with a bladed tip on the end of one's spear, but some times you had to make do with the materials at hand. To be an outlaw you had to be good at that, and since a spear was a spear no matter how you saw it, one made out of wood would work just as well as one with a metal head.

While the right hand attacked the left hand reached back and pulled another javelin from his harness. He only had two left now, after the elf destroyed one of them. He would need to go on a retrieval mission soon if he wanted to continue fighting with any proper form.

The strength afforded him by the amulet was working in the physical part of the combat but there was an additional mental effect Vius had not noticed before. It was obvious that these bursts of strength came as a surprise to the human and so it kept the man off-balance, unsure of what Vius' full potential was. In other words, they were both in the same boat. Neither one was completely sure of the other's capabilities. So, there would be more testing, more probing strikes and curious defenses punctuated by bursts of power but never the full extent. They were each trying to ensure that once they had spent their most potent resources, there would be no need to spend any more. For Vius, that meant saving his warlock powers of spell substitution, as using them now may leave him too vulnerable. Vius wondered what the man was holding in reserve, or if that sound wave attack had been the full extent of his special abilities and now he was stuck with simple physical combat maneuvers. Already, Vius had begun charging a magical attack, readying it for the right time to release it.

As if confirming his thought, the man met his attack and countered with a broad sweep at the elf's legs. No longer blessed by the wing spell, Vius relied on his own natural and trained agility. With a low enough horizontal attack, it would be no problem for the elf to just jump over it. However, the stranger wasn't a fool. Instead of aiming for the weaker part of the leg, the ankle, he aimed for the knee. So, instead of going up, Vius lowered himself and took the blow on his thigh. If the spear had had a blade, it might have torn his skin open but, as it stood, it left a bruise and pushed him a bit. Without the Aura active, that attack might have broken bones, even the sturdy and durable femur.

Now, for a counter. It was easiest to just slash out, as it was unlikely that the man had expected such a brazen move. Now it was time to up the ante, though. Even as he struck, a quick, simple slash towards the man's midsection, Vius was retreating, taking quick steps backwards while keeping his eyes on the man. His left hand glowed with a steadily increasing light as Vius prepared his newest spell, a way of manipulating the mana to cause a small explosion. It was useful for multiple opponents or quick, mobile opponents. Here and now, Vius would use it to impress the man with a show of force. Hopefully, that would be it, the man would be cowed into submission. The way the fight had gone so far, Vius imagined it would at least be an interesting escalation if that was the way the man went.

--------------------------------------------(I'm not sure if it is cool to be charging the spell Daybreak while also getting to attack, too so if you feel it's unfair, I will edit that.)Daybreak charging, ready next postHoly Aura effects, 2/4 posts leftStrength Jewel activated, 7/8 posts left

_________________"What torment, to have your thinking and your fantasy tied down by another person!" - Alexander Alekhine Vius Ottum

The elf took the strike on his thigh, leaving Tiam cursing his ill luck. If he had made it to a town and acquired a proper spear head before fighting this elf things might have turned out differently. He could curse all he liked - later. Right now he had a battle to fight, gold to earn, and a skinny elf to skewer with a long pointy stick. An unnaturally strong skinny elf. Tiam got a feeling that the elf was not used to the strength, meaning that he wasn't actually that strong naturally. One that was used to that strength would be trying to muscle his opponent into submission, using his weapon to meet attacks head on and try to bat them away. This elf was far too cautious for that, preferring to strike then run, or strike and run at the same time.

The elf did the latter of the two this time, lashing out with his sword even as he retreated. It was a silly move with all things considered. The elf was strong, allowing him to do a lot of damage with that blade, and one wanted to move forward instead of back when attacking to add extra force to it. As it was, Tiam rocked back on his heels at the attack came in, causing the sword to -almost- pass him by without a scratch. He received a scratch though as the sword cut through the leather armour on Tiam's stomach and drew a neat line of red across his abdomen.

The cut wasn't very deep, but it reminded Tiam that he would need to keep his wits about him, and not to overextend himself against this elf. The elf might be an inferior armsman, but even a master can be killed by a novice because he got too cocky.

The master would need to keep pressing the attack. He didn't like the way that the elf's hand was starting to glow, meaning that more dangerous sparkles would be coming his way soon. If he managed to disrupt the spell he would be better off. It was time to show the elf how you were really supposed to fight.

[Right knowing the left]

Tiam sprang forward in the wake of the blade with a powerful right-handed thrust at the elf's chest. The spear boomed as it cut through the air, giving the illusion of increased power while providing an excellent distraction. Tiam stepped into the attack and altered the direction at the last second so it would pass harmlessly just to the elf's left. While he did so he brought his javelin up, thrusting the hardened point at the elf's abdomen. With any luck the elf would end up skewered and dead. Barring that, at least the elf would be shaken and (hopefully) bleeding. It was hard to tell. Sometimes the feint worked like a charm, and other times it didn't work at all.

The human took the light slash in stride but Vius saw the thin line of red he had caused. Perhaps if he had put some more force into the attack, he could have finished this fight right now. However, he had determined that his magic would be what brought the man down. If he had successfully escaped or if the man had slowed down at all, that might have been true. The stranger wouldn't let up and refused to let Vius get to a safe distance. The after-effects of speeding his body up with his wing spell were catching up to Vius but he needed time to catch his breath.

The stranger stabbed his spear swiftly, trying to skewer the sorcerer. Vius felt his body clench up when the spear boomed and he was sure that another wave of power was about to flow out from the man. The thrust of the spear was only a distraction. Vius was half right. The thin steel-tip javelin found it's way into Vius' side. Luckily for the elf, the holy aura held it off somewhat, absorbing the initial shock and allowing the elf a precious second to react. In such a short time, all he could do is try to move to the side and he felt the spear scrape along his abdomen. That would have surely been a mortal wound had he not had that tiny bit of warning. As it was, he was cut deeper than he had cut the man. His light cloth shirt hung to the wound as blood began pooling.

Normally, this would be where Vius ran away and tossed the small, glowing ball that had coalesced in his left hand. The only problem was the javelin had glanced off his side but pierced through his clothes, effectively tethering him to the stranger. It seemed as if he only dug himself deeper and Vius found himself wondering what exactly was keeping him from letting the man take the gold. Now, of course, it was a matter of pride. With no other recourse, Vius simply tossed the small, silvery sphere towards the midpoint between him and the stranger. It's wide blast zone was an almost guaranteed hit and Vius could only hope that, due to his elven blood and his current magically-enhanced defenses, the stranger would be more affected by the unorthodox maneuver.

A blast of cold pushed the elf back enough to loosen him from the javelin and he stumbled back. Suddenly, the world was a dizzying field of shapes and colors constantly shifting back and forth. Vius had never been under the effects of his own attack and he took two steps back, hopefully putting space between him and the stranger. He wanted to collapse and sleep this woozy feeling off but if the stranger started attacking, even while impaired, Vius could end up even worse off than he was. That was assuming that he had even been affected by the attack, a thought that darkened Vius' mood immediately. What if the man somehow escaped the blast? For the moment, the elf only raised his sword in an unsteady defensive stance, relying on instinct to ward off any more attacks.

It worked... in a manner of speaking. Somehow that glow had given his disemboweling javelin a moment's pause that allowed the skinny elf to move slightly to the side, turning a mortal wound into a nasty scratch. The only solace was that the scratch was better than the one Tiam had received in return. He could feel that scratch under his armour as blood slowly trickled down his stomach and into the waistline of his trousers which was soaking up the blood as it flowed. The wound made flexing and bending painful, as one would expect from a wound on the core, but it was not debilitating. Still, he would need to be slightly more careful than before.

Tiam tried to retract his javelin for another strike only to find it snarled up by man's clothing. How it got snarled Tiam was uncertain, but it wouldn't be hard to guess. It was quite likely that a splinter of wood was snagged in the man's bloody clothing and still attached to the shaft. If that was the case a sharp tug would get it free and ready to be used again.

It was around that time that the glowing ball appeared in the Elf's hand. That caused a little spike of panic that Tiam had to quash immediately. He needed to stay cool and level headed, even if the elf looked like he was holding a ball of glowing death in his hand. Tiam gave a hard on the javelin as he was diving away from the elf, threatening to tear his wound more in order to evade what was undoubtedly coming next. There was a sound of splitting wood as the long splinter ripped itself free.

The wash of cold came while he was still in mid dive, knocking him off balance and causing him to roll awkwardly sideways instead of forward like he desired. There, on the flat of his back, Tiam stared up at the sky in wonder. Not only was the sky now purple, but there were an oddly large number of square blue birds fluttering around in the sky. He looked down at the sand and his heart leaped. He wasn't standing on sand, he was standing on water which was rocking under his back. He tried to get up, scoffing at the waves, but was unable to find his balance for long. He was too heavily disoriented to keep standing and so fell back on his rear, spear still held firmly in hand, but javelin forgotten two feet to the side.

He hadn't felt this disoriented since drinking a whole jug of grog, taking a few puffs off of the shaman's pipe, and licking God's Toad. At least, that's what the crew called it. Who knew what the hell that old seer was giving them. Luckily, Tiam didn't feel like passing out this time, but he hoped the feeling went away soon. Through the haze of the discoloured world Tiam was able to make out the elf that he was supposed to be fighting. Only... he wasn't likely to be fighting in this state for long.

Vius laughed and shook his head. The simple movement sent pulses of vibrant color bounding outward and knocked him off balance. He stumbled back a few steps, then over-corrected and nearly collapsed forward. He fell to his knees and his left hand shot out to stabilize him. He remained still in the crouch and looked over to the stranger who had wisely chose to ride out the effects of Vius' magical attack by sitting down and waiting it out. Should he even bother attempting to fight right now? It seemed they were both incapable of much more than staggering around and marveling at the unusual colors and designs that spun around them.

The elf planted his sword into the sand and pushed, attempting to use the weapon as a makeshift crush. The brightsteel sank deeper into the sand than Vius had intended and the elf fell forward, kicking up sand and sprawling face-first onto the ground. He shook his head, this time sending bright orange stars dancing out before him. He reached for the short silver blade and sighed, then rolled over to stare at a sky that should have been the pleasant, light blue of a late afternoon but was instead yellow that was fading into green that slowly turned to blue. Vius' silver eyes took in the scene and growled in irritation. He had really screwed up now. He sat up and turned to face the man once more, his whole body wobbling with the simple effort of turning his head.

"Who in their right mind would want to feel like this for fun?" Vius said. He adjusted to a cross-legged sitting position and set his sword across his lap, his attention split between watching the stranger for any indicator of hostility and the sky as it shifted again from an unusually bright blue to a deep shade of purple. His Elven blood should have dampened the effects of this magic but, as far as he could tell, he was as affected as the human was by his own foolishly prepared spell. Vius briefly noted the fading of the silver light from his skin and knew that his protection spell had worn off. Vius shrugged at the prospect. He still had a few tricks left; hopefully they went a little better than this one.

Apparently the elf had fallen under the same effect that Tiam had. The poor sod didn't get out of the range of his own spell, meaning that he effectively rendered himself, and his advantage, useless. Good job, dumbass. It also appeared that this was the first time he had felt this way. At least Tiam knew what was going on - this was a whole new experience for the elf. He didn't even know he could sell this for money!

"Of course you can sell it - you clearly don't go to the proper places in town. If you did you wouldn't be working for merchants as some... guard." Tiam shook his head and felt the sand-water. The waves were rolling slightly less now, so that meant he was coming down. Colour was starting to return to the world in streaks, giving the sky a psychedelic cast. The birds were also disappearing, and the few that remained were slowly turning from blue squares to blue-and-brownish birds.

"Of course people want to feel like this for fun. It is fun, and it helps people forget their troubles. Unlike you and I, most people aren't special." Tiam pushed himself unsteadily to his feet and found his javelin in the process. His hand wrapped around it almost instinctively and he took a rocky combat stance. He could still feel the sand swelling and sinking beneath him, but the waves were dissipating at a steady rate. Soon enough he would be right as rain.

"On second thought, you really couldn't sell this stuff, it doesn't last long enough. You would get stabbed for selling shitty product." Tiam shook his head to clear the last of the blue in the birds and felt good, if a little unsteady from the after effects.

The sky was still a rainbow of unusual colors instead of a pale blue. The ground was less shaky but had not completely stopped shaking. It was getting easier to focus. The fight would continue. Vius sighed and kicked his legs out, sending himself up and into a fighting stance. He eyed his opponent and considered the man's words.

"I didn't know I was special for a long time," Vius said, almost to himself, though with only the ambient noise of the beach, the man surely heard him, too. The elf paused and tapped his chin with a slender finger, sending only small spots instead of huge waves of color. "Ha! I think if I had never become a warlock, I might have been one of those type of people. I would want to escape reality if it was mundane, bland, gray; if all I had was a trudging, empty existence of slavery. I guess I'm glad I'm special. But it doesn't seem to excuse me from having troubles. As for people stabbing at me, well..." Vius motioned towards the man's weaponry and shrugged."...it's always something."

Vius drew back his left hand as the Void filled him. He let his power gather and then grinned. Offensive magic wasn't his strong suit but he could use his skills to stay alive and focused. He raised his left hand to his brow, almost in a salute and felt the loop of power he had created. The Void flew through his hand and hit his head, then shivered down his spine. He had gotten used to this by now and hardly showed any effects of the cold burst of energy but he felt less strained, as if he hadn't spent the last few minutes dodging spear thrusts and shooting poorly-aimed bursts of mana at a stranger for a reason that was making less and less sense.

There was no point in prolonging their return to arms. Vius leaped forward with a renewed vigor. The amulet still granted him strength and that strength coursed through his body, allowing him better chances in a melee brawl. He held his blade horizontally and decided to try a new tactic. Rather than slashing wildly, Vius simply held the blade out horizontally and kept running, intent on plowing through his opponent. While this was an unusual tactic for the elf, who relied more on speed and agility, he hoped it would throw his opponent off guard or maybe even score another hit. Still, his gait was a little uneven, mostly due to the sand, though the final bit of his spell hadn't completely worn off, either.

They were both on their feet again, and as Tiam shook off the last of that weird high the elf charged. It was an odd sort of charge, as if the elf were expecting Tiam to simply stand there and get skewered by the sword. If anything, that elf had no right to be charging in like that - only a proper swordsman should be doing that. The elf likely didn't even have the knowledge to capitalize on his position or his motion. Silly elf, leave the sword play to the big boys.

Tiam jumped to the side and let the elf run past. He had no idea if that elf's strength was still enhanced or not, and he certainly didn't want to get into a wrestling match with the bugger if it was. Instead he opted for the safer route and let the elf simply pass on by. Now was the chance he was waiting for. The pirate broke into a sprint toward the cliff face where his first javelin had sunk. Sheathing his javelins was nowhere near as practiced as drawing them, but by the time he made it to the cliff face it was at least satisfactorily secured.

Tiam wrenched the first javelin that he had thrown free of the soft cliff face and then whirled. He took quick stock of the situation and then threw his javelin at Vius. Unlike the other thrown javelins, he was finally using his final trick on the elf. This one wasn't powerful like the others, but it still had the ability to cause a lot of pain, and potentially even death - if in an indirect way.

While the javelin was in mid-flight Tiam channeled his gift outward and touched the javelin with as much power as he could, causing it to emit a very loud 'boom' as the sound of the rushing air was amplified to the extreme. Even though he knew it was coming Tiam couldn't help but flinch a little. Even after all these years he wasn't quite used to that.

[Boom! 2/3 remain]

(This post is rather open ended as to what you're doing, that's why I didn't say where you were, just that I threw my javelin at you. Where you are is up to you, even if you're just several feet behind me, or if you're casting a spell at me or something.)

The stranger dodged Vius' brazen attack without much effort. The rush of strength that Akmun's amulet tended to make the elf attack before thinking things through but he had to keep the man on his toes. Otherwise, he might gain some sort of advantage that Vius hadn't anticipated. Most people had emergency tricks up their sleeves and Vius had a feeling that the man was holding out; he wasn't quite desperate enough to unleash his full power. Then again, perhaps the elf was over-thinking things. That burst of sound the man had put out...that could have been his only fancy trick. He had some good moves but maybe he was mostly just a lucky foot soldier. The man seemed to answer Vius' thoughts by tossing a javelin. It seemed he hadn't even used full force. Vius sighed and was about to step out of the way, easy enough. How pedestrian.

Immediately, the elf was punished for underestimating his opponent. As the javelin hurtled towards him, a sudden rumble of sound burst forth. Vius jumped to the side, hoping that he could avoid the explosive force that was sure to accompany that huge sound. He landed on his chest, his left hand covering his head as his right hand held a white-knuckled grip on the silver sword. A soft sound of the javelin striking into the dirt told Vius that the boom had been some sort of ruse. The elf slowly looked around and then rose to his feet. His face flushed red as he realized he had panicked and overreacted.

"Jackass," Vius scoffed, though he wasn't really sure if he was speaking to himself or the stranger. He drew his sword back until it touched his left shoulder and then swept it horizontally in a wide arc. As soon as he swept it to the side, it split in to five more or less equal pieces that flew forward in a wide arc. This was just a delay tactic, as Vius knew the stranger had gained an offensive edge while the elf had cowered for no real reason. If one of the little silver razors caught the stranger with a lucky hit, then that would be nice but he was really just trying to gain a better position to mount a stronger assault. He could feel the amulet slowly draining of it's strength; he'd have to take advantage of it at least once more before it was over.

Tiam howled with laughter as Vius dove to his stomach at the sound of the blast. He was so taken by laughter, in fact, that his peals grew progressively louder as his gift ran away from him. Finally, after a few seconds of gut-aching laughter, Tiam composed himself and used what was left of his advantage to dash to the side and recover the second javelin that he had thrown. This one was embedded in the sand - a relatively soft place to land - and so had it's head perfectly in tact.

By the time he had recovered the piece of wood, Vius had risen and was flushing red, saying something about somebody being a jackass. Apparently the warlock was too flustered to even consider brushing himself off, and was quite the sight all covered in sand and dust after his most recent roll in the dirt. The elf was rattled, that was good. Tiam had to keep him rattled if he intended to live and make off with the gold. A composed opponent was a dangerous opponent, as the elf was no doubt learning, while an opponent off their rhythm was a dead one. That this elf was still alive was a testament to his skill and power, and the bandit had to admire that in the skinny bugger, to say the least.

When the glowing sword came out again Tiam checked the javelin he had recently sheathed - it was loose and had to be fiddled with a little before it would sit properly again. Tiam felt a little dumb that he was stuck fiddling with the javelin on his back. He should have been charging the elf down again to keep him off kilter, but was instead sitting on his heels playing with the stick on his back. The stick might as well be up his ass for all the good it was doing him at that very moment.

The short delay required to fix the javelin in the harness allowed Vius to send another grouping of metal shards at Tiam. Normally they would have been fairly easy to dodge, but their spread coupled with the fact that they blended fairly well with the sand made the dodge sticky at best. It also didn't help that Tiam wasn't paying full attention to the elf while he was fixing his javelin either...

The only thing that he could do was go down. Tiam dropped into a butterfly and lay down, letting the shards go whistling past him. They were closer than Tiam was comfortable with, that much was sure.

He recovered quickly, but the damage was done. Vius would have had time to compose himself by now. His foe was dangerous again... that wasn't good.

Tiam charged, his booted feet kicking up sand as he went. The charge was straight with only a few pushes to either side to stop his stomach from catching a straight-shot projectile. The charge turned unconventional when he was about ten feet from the elf. Tiam dove forward, rolling and coming out on his knee, driving his spear toward the elf's stomach as he came out of the roll. Putting himself on his knees was not the wisest of moves, but he needed to do something to keep the elf off balance. He didn't have any more tricks up his sleeve, so it was time for his unorthodox style of fighting to do its job.

The elf swiped his left hand angrily at his dark robe, which he realized was wasted effort. Sand had entered his clothes, his boots and all sorts of places sand shouldn't be. He frowned, more irritated by the sand than the battle at hand. In fact, he was still enjoying this fight, despite it's shaky premise. How long would the kiltharr merchant be out? If he or the goblin driver awoke, they might be able to scare off the pirate with sheer numbers. However, the man didn't seem like one to back down, even when outnumbered and those two were more likely to be a hindrance than a help. Maybe it was best that they were still down.

The stranger had dodged Vius' attack well enough and as each blade encountered the surface of sand or rock, it disappeared with a silvery flash and reformed the elf's blade.The man used precious seconds to adjust one of his weapons, which gave Vius a chance to adjust and prepare for what was sure to be another rushing attack. A pleasant chill ran through Vius' spine as he grasped the power of the Void and prepared his spell. A faint silver glow spread over his left hand as he raised it to aim at the man. Predictably, the man began his charge, speeding forward towards a spell that Vius mentally acknowledged to be just as predictable.

A sudden shift sent the man sprawling forward and Vius was stunned for a second as he thought the man had simply lost his footing. Surprise sent the elf into action as the man completed his unorthodox tumbling attack and sent a spear flying up towards Vius from below. The odd angle made it much harder to anticipate but with a quick jump forward and a sweep of his sword, Vius managed to counter the attack and brush aside the spear.

Vius once again thanked Akmun for his gift; his enhanced strength was definitely a deciding factor in this current clash. If not for that, Vius wasn't sure he would have been able to parry the spear with out taking some damage himself. As it was, he was now on the inside of the man's defenses and his left hand still glowed with unspent power. He simply reached forward, once again attempting to strike the man with an open-palm and release the power of the Void. Vius couldn't help but notice that this was incredibly similar to early circumstances and repeating his attack might make it easier for the man to counter. Still, with his enhanced strength slowly waning and the man currently crouched down on one knee, this seemed like the most appropriate method of attack. If Vius struck the man in the target, the center of his chest, the man would likely lose his breath and his footing, setting him up to be easily subdued.